Edu eyes five Arsenal transfer deadline day deals as Mikel Arteta looks to bolster squad

It’s shaping up to be a busy final day of the window for Arsenal. Mikel Arteta‘s focus may be slightly elsewhere. He has a press conference at 1:30pm as he prepares for the Gunners’ Premier League clash with Brighton. In the background though, Edu and his team are going to be working very hard.

One deal that is almost certain to go through is Eddie Nketiah‘s transfer to Crystal Palace. The 25-year-old has been at the heart of a long-running transfer saga all summer and attracted interest from Marseille, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest among others. Nketiah does now look set to finally be on his way out of the Emirates Stadium though for a fee that could rise to £30million.

Aaron Ramsdale is another player who looks to be heading towards the departures lounge. Arsenal have agreed a deal that will see the England international join Southampton for an initial £18million. The fee is likely to rise to £25million due to a series of achievable add ons though, and Edu has also secured a sell on clause.

Aaron Ramsdale is another player who looks to be heading towards the departures lounge. Arsenal have agreed a deal that will see the England international join Southampton for an initial £18million. The fee is likely to rise to £25million due to a series of achievable add ons though, and Edu has also secured a sell on clause.

Should Ramsdale’s move to St. Mary’s be finalised then Arsenal will find themselves on the look out for a goalkeeper to compete with David Raya. Joan Garcia of RCD Espanyol is the club’s main target. The Gunners have sorted personal terms with the 23-year-old, so all that remains is to agree a fee with Espanyol.

The La Liga side are insistent that they will not allow Garcia to leave for anything below his €30million release clause. If Arsenal trigger this though, the deal should progress very quickly.

However, if that deal is unable to progress then Arsenal are exploring a move for Bournemouth stopper Neto. The Brazilian has been a target for Arsenal in the past and Bournemouth have already signed a replacement for the Brazilian in Kepa Arrizabalaga.

The Gunners could be in the market for another goalkeeper beyond that. Karl Hein’s loan move to Real Valladolid means that they would like to bring in third choice stopper who will help them fill the home grown quota. Dan Bentley of Wolves is a player they have shown interest in, while Sam Tickle of Wigan Athletic is another they have been linked to.

As things stand the gap between Arsenal and Wolves’ valuation for Bentley is too high, while it’s unclear if Tickle is willing to forgo first team football at Wigan. If the Gunners are unable to get someone in, then summer signing Tommy Setford will take up the role of third choice, although the 18-year-old does not count as home grown due to the fact that he has come through the Ajax youth system.

Arsenal would ideally like to bring in a forward as well as two goalkeepers on deadline day. The prospects of that do appear to be dwindling as things stand though.

Nico Williams and Benjamin Sesko were players they looked at this window. A deal for Williams was tricky due to the Spanish international’s high wage demands and the fact that his release clause needed to be paid up front. Arsenal are looking to operate sustainably in this transfer market and therefore are unable to sanction the kind of hefty transfers that we saw last summer. Sesko meanwhile decided to stay at RB Leipzig and extend his contract.

Arsenal have been offered both Raheem Sterling and Kingsley Coman as the 11pm deadline approaches fast. Sterling would be a tricky deal to get over the line as he would need to reach an agreement with Chelsea over the amount of money he is owed in wages. Equally, the England international would likely have to take a salary cut to secure a move from west to north London.

Coman meanwhile has interest from Saudi Arabia where the transfer window closes later. This could make any negotiations to bring down his reported £300,000 per week salary tricky as the 28-year-old could be tempted to wait to move to the Saudi Pro League instead.